The International Truck dealer here in Houston has 3 new 4x4 MXT's, and there is a 4th one on the road already.
http://truckaccessoryguide.com/img/internationalmxt.jpg >From a distance and even up close, the vehicle is very impressive looking. I went by there today and the salesman let me sit in the driver's seat. I felt like I was behind the wheel of monster truck. There is plenty of leg room and headroom for 2 obese cavers in the front row. The center has a very large storage area. The dashboard instrumentation is angled towards the driver and away from the passenger. There is a large 7 inch navigation screen. Above the sun visors, are 2 trays to hold books, maps, CD's, DVD's, medicine, sunglasses, etc. And a spot for a CB or another similar gadget. I am pretty sure it had cruise control. The cab design resembled something from the 80's. I didn't see any airbags or iPOD ports or anything you would expect from a 2007 or luxury model vehicle in the over $ 87,000 range. The 2nd row of seats is huge. There is so much leg room. There is a tiny bit of storage area behind the seats, and underneath them. 3 obese cavers could ride comfortably cross-country in the MXT. I believe you could rig a spot for one adult to sleep on the back bench. There is a 10 inch fold down television for the rear passengers. The back window doesn't do anything like open which is something I would want on a $ 88,000 truck. There is no sun-roof or roof-rack or anything on the roof, except for some clearance lights which are probably not LED. I got to look under the hood. There is a giant engine under the hood that resembles the motor on a bulldozer. It looked like technology from the 70's. I didn't see anything that looked hi-tech like you would see on a Volkswagen or Mercedes CDI engine. There was no fancy Blu-tec emissions stuff. I don't know anything about diesels, so I can not comment any further. But it looks like there is enough torque to do anything a caver would ever contemplate doing with a truck. The tires and wheels seem to be well designed. You could probably put even bigger tires if you could find some 42's or 44's, but why would you want to. There is enough ground clearance that several cavers could lay their sleeping bags down under the chassis. You could easily cross a streambed in the MXT. ( there are a few in the Sierra Madres, right ? ) I didn't look underneath, but I don't believe there is any special skid-platting. The axles are so huge and the parts are so heavy duty, that skid plating would probably just add extra weight. But the step rails are very well designed. To the best of my knowledge the MXT doesn't have any of the 4x4 features that rock-crawlers like, for example, locking differentials, granny gears, etc. The axles do not appear to articulate very much, but there are still people who prefer leaf springs and solid axles. The color of the truck is a bright blue, but also comes in silver and black. ( I believe it is also available in red. ) There are currently no accessories like a Jeep would have, such as winch or custom camper tops. The bed is huge, and flat and lined with aluminum diamond plate on bottom and all sides. Tailgate requires tall strong person to open. The back-up camera lens is specially integrated into a very fancy rear aluminum bumper. I can think of a lot of jeep trails in the Sierra Madres where the MXT would be too wide or too tall. But if your goal is to take 5 or 6 large cavers cross-country for a month with a ton of caving gear then maybe this is the vehicle for you. This truck would work great on some of the remote logging roads of Mexico, but the banditos or federales or zapatistas would probably want to kill you for it. I like the MXT. I would NEVER commute to work in it or use it as a daily vehicle. But I can see it as a fun vehicle for a group of cavers to cross streams or drive across the desert. ( Someone might be able to write it off as a business expense. ) I would feel very safe driving the MXT down the highway. It would certainly tow a large object to a remote area better than any consumer truck. But what would you be towing ? A giant barbeque pit? You couldn't tow a camper-trailer up in the remote mountains, but maybe out into the remote flatlands. I don't know what kind of mileage the MXT gets, but if it is 8 miles a gallon, then the range of the vehicle is only 320 miles. So you would have to carry extra fuel, which shouldn't be a problem. I didn't notice where the spare tire was or if it even had one. Parallel parking a 21 foot long truck would not be easy, especially in some of the little towns in Mexico, and you can just forget about going to Real de Catorce. [ It would be fun to try to drive it thru the tunnel though, and you could then park it and walk the rest of the way, which is what a lot of people do anyways. ] I think my number one thing I didn't like about the vehicle was the lack of articulation in the axles, and next was probably the lack of a turbo-charger. In summary, it seemed the mechanics of the vehicle was old un-reliable technology. Maintenance would be expensive and you would be limited as to which mechanics could work on the MXT. I think your money would be better spent to get a diesel Ford Excursion or Dodge Mega-Cab and then put your favorite after market products on it International Trucks is planning for a more luxurious model of this truck. If you consider the cost of a $ 89,000 truck plus tax, plus fuel cost, plus maintenance cost, and total that, you could have probably purchased a very nice commercial cave in Texas. Or you could buy a his and hers diesel SUV from Mercedes with all the latest technology. I hope to see a hybrid-biodiesel MXT in the next 20 years. Maybe then it will be more practical. I would like to see what kind of fiberglass camper tops, you can match to fit the MXT. 4 adult cavers should be able to sleep very comfortably back there if it had a camper shell. I will give International a B-plus for the introduction of the MXT line, and hope that they eventually re-fine the truck to make it a more practical caving vehicle. David Locklear P.S. Here are the specs on the motor: http://www.internationaldelivers.com/site_layout/engine/vt365detail.asp . The specs for the 1000 RDS transmission are shown on the table below: http://www.allisontransmission.com/documents/product/specs_RDS.pdf http://www.waterouspower.com/img/products/trans_rds.jpg --------------------------------------------------------------------- Visit our website: http://texascavers.com To unsubscribe, e-mail: [email protected] For additional commands, e-mail: [email protected]
